


One

by Venstar



Series: Meaningless Scars [1]
Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-05-31 08:26:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15115598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Venstar/pseuds/Venstar
Summary: Venice.





	One

**Author's Note:**

> so i challenged SpiritofCamelot to write 500 words a day for the July fest. Here's hoping I don't run out of ideas but I doubt it since there are prompts everywhere I look. I'll post them here, the first set will be up on tumblr so that it counts for the first day of the fest.

It was M’s job to sort through the missions across his desk and send the correct Agent to do the correct job.This time, M wasn’t so sure he had made the right choice. 

Venice.

007 had made such an imperceptible grimace upon hearing the location of the latest mission, that it caused M to pause. 007 rarely, if at anytime, made such a mistake about showing a reaction towards a mission, no matter how unsavory it was. M had nearly asked him about it, but 007 calmly held his hand out and accepted the slim dossier with his call sign typed neatly across the top.

“Will that be all?” 007 asked.

It was one more chance, one opening in which M could have questioned his operative, but he didn’t take it. One small facial movement wasn’t enough to call the mission off or to suddenly pick and send another agent, when there were so precious few available. 007 was familiar with Venice. It was what M told himself when he tried to sleep that night. Some scars run deeper and aren’t as meaningless as the ones laid out on the surface of our skin. We can see those.

Unable to sleep, M had wandered into work early and spent that time in his office. When Moneypenny found him, he was leaning back in his leather chair, jacket off, shirt sleeves rolled up and tie loosened. It must have been a sight to see, for even the stoic faced former field agent raised her eyebrows.

“You did go home, didn’t you, sir?” Moneypenny strolled forward until she was directly in front of his desk.

“What do you know about Venice?” M asked, ignoring her question. Surely Moneypenny would know everything.

“Just the usual. It’s a city in the northeastern part of Italy, a set of islands connected by canals and waterways. It has lovely views and a fascinating history.” Moneypenny smiled, “Why, thinking of visiting?”

M shook his head. “No.” He leaned forward until he could put his elbows on his desk. “What do you know of Venice and 007?”

“Oh.” Moneypenny’s brows creased as she thought about what she had just been asked. “The two have an interesting history together, so I’ve heard.”

“My predecessor was always very good at sending the right Agent on the right mission. I wonder if and when that skill will appear in me.” M said softly.

“I’m sure 007 won’t hold a grudge, just because he got sent to a city he’s not very fond of.” Moneypenny slid into one of the high backed chairs in front of M’s desk. “M…she would have sent him in sooner rather than later. Now, it’s just a different M and a different time scale.”

M gave her a brief smile. She was trying, he knew to make him feel better.

“And as Q would say, time is just a big ball of wibbly wobbly, timey wimey stuff. It’s unpredictable, much like 007.”

M raised tired eyes to meet hers. “As you say. Now, down to the days business.”

It would be weeks before he saw 007 again. While he seemed whole, there was a dusting of fresh scars about him, some looking as if they’d only seen the bare minimum of care. A building had come down on him…again. A canal building. It had been an accident, collateral damage.

“There must be something in the water. This is the second time you’ve had a Venetian building fall on you, 007. Must stop doing that, you know.” Tanner seemed to be scolding 007 in jest, after the debriefing he had just endured.

“Only the one this time?” Q teased. He had joined them mid debrief, after analyzing the data 007 had managed to steal, the main goal of his mission. He had also brought back an external hard drive that Q had nearly cooed at. “In Mexico City, you brought several buildings down all at once. Must keep up the standards, old boy.”

M met 007’s chilly gaze topping off an equally chilly smile and wondered what other scars Venice inflicted upon him, with this second mission.


End file.
